Out of Sand
by missingthecat
Summary: With Hermione forcing herself to move on, what new love is awaiting?
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: not Rowling, not claiming to be: **after all, a cat can't appear in court!

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She waited night after night for her phone to light up and play the silly tune she assigned his number. She never heard it, but she waited all the same.

Some nights, she fiddled with it, and tried to assign another melody, but the tune refused to escape what she originally intentionally labeled it for.

One night, she laid it on her kitchen counter and drew her wand on it, but the "what if's" played her heartstrings, so she kept the little phone charged in her house, in her car. The time was almost coming to a pass

Occasionally Ginny called her, trying to draw her out to lunch in Diagon Alley, saying that the boys were in international competition, and it would be safe to watch and wait, wizard-watch...and sometimes she said yes, and at Fortescue's, she would eat her vanilla ice cream, waiting for a certain someone, her ear half attending to the conversation.

Ginny would always shake her head, lay a galleon and a knut, drag Hermione away from her watching and waiting, and try to interest her in the shop windows, but even the bookstore would not hold her attention for long.

The day would be over shortly, but she always waited for him. Waited for him to accept she was muggle-born. Waited for him to dial the number she left burned into his wand, if he were to accept her ancestry and just call, it would disappear. She loved him enough to wait. She wasn't a patient waiter, she periodically sent owls to him carrying cell phones with pre-paid airtime, and they were returned, but the last one wasn't. Ginny always dragged her around, and their day would end with a dinner and they would part when dusk appeared. Night turned into morning, into another day of waiting.

* * *

Ginny came by for another "Drag Hermione Out Day." 

They were walking down the busy cobblestone, and she was trying to tell Hermione of a new bookstore that was opening.

Hermione however was lost in thought.

She always wondered if Draco loved her, why wasn't it enough to call. Since he didn't, she wondered if Hedwig got lost, which would be an insult to the dear bird, who had the phone and who would call. Her number was programmed in, just as she placed it on his wand. At this point in time, after the war, and all this time she waited, she suddenly started walking with her head high, knowing that as much as she loved him, the next morning she was going to live without him and start again. Witches didn't live forever, and she wasn't going to wait on a wizard who didn't deem her worthy of his time. He said he needed time, but come the sunrise, his sand would have run out.

Ginny noticed a slight misstep in her friend's gait, then saw a sparkle in her eye that was long missing, the straight back, head tilted forward. It had been a year, but now, she can see the best remnants of her oldest girlfriend.

"Hermione?"

"Ginny? Where can I get my hair cut?" Hermione remembered that when Native Americans lost a loved one, their cut hair was their sign of grief. While she had decided that she wasn't going to wait, she should at least honor the feelings she once had for the ferret, for her emotions were real, and she was going to do it with style.

* * *

Draco held a death grip on the elder man's elbow. "Uncle, wait a moment." 

He saw her hair, long and curling, falling from beneath a ridiculous purple hat, but his heart pinged when he realized how long it had been since he held her.

His godfather let the younger man hide behind his robes, like he did when he was five, and sighed as the two young witches ambled on past the apothecary.

"Draco, this game has gone on long enough."

"Uncle, I love her."

"Then just go to her for Merlin's sake."

"Only when she yields. She must understand that I may have changed some, but not enough to bow to her wishes."

"Draco, would it be so terrible to live partly in the muggle world?"

"It has been terrible just living without her."

Severus Snape pondered the younger man's words with a sneer. He was not going to classify what Draco did as living, nor as loving. "I don't think she will wait much longer."

"Well, I won't go crawling to her. She must understand, I AM a pure-blood of an OLD family, I WILL NOT live as a muggle part-time to please her parents!" Draco finished with a huff, dragged a battered phone out of his pocket and chucked it at his uncle. Severus let it fall to the ground in front of him. He then heard a muttered "Accio". The phone whizzed back to its owner. Draco spun on his heel, hands stuffed into his pockets, and walked out of the apothecary away from the woman who pulled him from the dark into the light and left him there, feeling she left him without staying by his side to help him breathe.

Severus Snape felt too old to know anything about love. He stood there in the shop's window, looking out, while the last of his purchases were being wrapped.

His godson was a damned fool. Not knowing what love fully entailed, he idled away his time, waiting for Hermione to come to him, while it should have been his pride to be dented while he crawled to her.

* * *

Hogwart's graduates should be of no concern to him, yet he was involved because it was his godson, and because the young lady in question had even dared to approach him seeking aid. 

"Professor Snape?" Hermione's voice was husky, and fully of respect due to a person of his stature, yet not one due to one of her own. She was amongst the several highly revered witches of her time, if not the last few generations, and the apprehension in her voice irritated him.

"Miss Granger," he gravely answered. "You requested this appointment?"

"It is your godforsaken godchild that lead me to request it." Good, he thought, some of the fire was still there. Time to see exactly how much. He spoke.

"I have little time to be embroiled into your spats!" standing angrily, he finished with, "Get out!"

She stood up with him and showed that Gryffindor spine somehow gone missing when she developed her attachment to young Mister Malfoy.

"That is why I am here. Time is what I have to give him, and a year it shall be, but no longer."

Severus' curiosity was piqued. "Humor me, Ms. Granger, and leave, I will not get tossed as a knut, one spender to another."

He did not growl his order to leave his office overly loudly, so she began to pace the confines of it.

"Professor, sir, that is all you have to tell him. He has a year. He will have a method to call me, and he definitely has the number to call," she stated with a smirk. Severus now knew how and what the numbers were on his godson's wand. Hermione waved a flighty hand, "Ollivander himself taught me that trick, before you lead that direction, he had a good laugh about muggles conveniently forgetting numbers that they do not want to call."

He just raised an eyebrow.

"Like at bars, taverns, approach a girl, get her number and never call?"

The eyebrow stayed raised.

"Asking where the nearest apparation point or portkey station is and never showing?"

"I know what that meant Ms. Granger, but once again, what does that have to do with me?"

"Just tell him a year, I refuse to wait longer. I thought we have been through enough together, lived together enough, loved each other...a year that we had, another I will give, but that is it."

"They still kill messengers."

"Don't worry Professor, you'll just owe me a dinner."

She was gone with that last sentence and he ended up rubbing his forehead wondering why Draco was being stubborn over a somewhat small issue for so-called people in love. He poured a double of firewhiskey and let the glass sit filled while he waited. He actually hoped they would not have that dinner. How a pathetically human thought.

* * *

Draco Malfoy did indeed love her, he always have, and hoped he always would. She made him feel all that muggle fluff, whole, complete, and safe. The passion, he did not know if it was the same, after all, the wait was inching into a year, but he would not yield. 

She would marry him, and become his wife, but she would yield to him, and him only. He loved her enough to make her understand how the old magical world worked. He was not stupid, for peace to be present in his home; she would yield, and come to him. He would wait.

* * *

Severus Snape walked into the stuffy confines of Diagon Alley once more, carrying a small parcel. The headmaster sent him on a fool's journey into muggle London, into that tourist's trap of Harrod's, for what? "Little teddy, Severus, dressed like the Queen's own guard, even one of the feet has the name embroidered on it." 

Severus glanced to the deputy headmistress, so called queen of transfiguration and waited for her explanation.

"Severus, I know that you need to get a few more supplies before term. Truly, it will be a hop and skip," Severus snorted at McGonagall. "Please?"

"This is going to be the last bloody gift that I will pick up for one of your grandchildren." He eyed his two bosses. "Could be filed under 'Bloody Cruel and Unusual Punishments.'"

Said teddy was wrapped in two layers of parcel paper, should even a hint of the fake fur be tucked out.

In front of the apothercary, he noticed stepping his way to Gringott's, a familiar purple hat beckoned his attention.

He walked and stood behind the petite witch in the funny hat, and waited.

She noticed his reflection in the window, not to mention the feeling of being in his overbearing presence. She turned and faced him, her newly shorn curls making her look pixieish.

"You owe me dinner?"

"Then you must allow me to escort you now, term starts soon, if after then, you would have to wait."

"I am tired of waiting."

He tucked Hermione's hand into his elbow and led the way to the apparation point.

Steely gray eyes watched from a distance, a phone in his hand, but the battery was dead.

* * *

A/N: 

What do you think? Does this one-shot deserve more?

the cat


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

…

It felt quite different, to be escorted by an older gentleman. Hermione never quite believed Luna on the subject, but she was right, there were differences between men and "men."

The moment of tizzy that caused her to chop off her hair made her realize that she needed a new hat.

They were almost to the apparition point, and she tugged at the man's elbow where her hand was currently tucked.

"Professor, sir." She began with a little hand wave. "What do you think of my hat?"

Severus looked down at it, with a mental tap dance in his head, "Do you realize, Ms. Granger, that Lord Voldemort is gone?"

She looked at him as they stopped where she wanted, the milliner's called "Lav's Luscious Linens." Hermione gave a mirthful grin," Oh, I know sir, Harry, has a saying." She tugged him with her toward the shop, and found he was actually coming along, not reluctantly at all.

He sneered at the name on the gold and maroon painted wood, wincing a bit at the name.

"Miss Brown's, I must assume?"

"Always support a fellow Gryffindor, and that will be Madam Finnegan now.' She decided to prod, "Harry always answers, 'Hermione, I have faced Lord Voldemort, and saw him die by my own hands, you saw him.'" She paused and rang the bell on the counter. "Why must you make me risk my life by asking me, 'Does this make me look fat?"

"For once, having fought beside, him, and actually passed him on, I will safely agree."

Severus stood there and scowled at himself, wondering how she could drag him into a Gryffindor woman's shop.

Lavender Finnegan came out, her eyes sparkling at the sight of Hermione. "You cut your hair!"

He stood there a moment, and wondered, how it could be worse, he had a wrapped teddy, his godson's ex-fiancé seemed to have him on a leash, and he seemed not to care in the slightest. He pondered if Minerva and Albus drugged his tea, or at least sent a congeniality charm towards his back as he left the castle.

"Ms. Granger?" He began, and gave a grunt, "I really don't have much time, and I carry parcels I truly must get back to Hogwarts."

Lavender gave a small grin, "I can send them on to the school with the floo."

"Come, Professor," Hermione stated, "Just think we could have a nice dessert too."

Lavender giggled at the thought of relaying the story to Seamus. "I ran into Ginny this morning."

Hermione gave a sigh, and with that sigh Severus found himself reaching his hand into his pockets, and withdrawing several shrunken packages. He watched his former students chatting as they walked toward the fireplace. He grimaced only slightly as Madame Finnegan dragged out what look like a paper carrier with two handles and was stuffing his packages into. The grimace was for the flashing purple "LLL, Lav's Luscious Linens, we will dress you right."

At the point he thought he would see the shimmering violet letters long into his dreams, he caught notice of the young ladies conversation. He watched Madame Finnegan handling what looked to be a time turner, but not quite, and decided he should be paying attention. The thin long chain rested on the neck of "date" for the evening.

"That is what Ron gave you isn't it? Ginny says the sand is stuck." Lavender stopped fiddling with it as she reached for a bustier shaped floo powder jar.

"Yes, it is. Ron and Harry. The sand is stuck because he never came back to flip it again." Hermione watched the flames turn green, and then Lavender turned back to the professor.

"Oh, sir, any custom declarations?"

Severus rued the day that Mundungus Fletcher got caught smuggling kimchi pots and Remus Lupin was tetchy because of the full moon. "Just one parcel." The grimace returned to his features, making him look more like the professor they had graduated under, and said, 'Just a teddy." Damn Mundungus. Damn stupid magical-muggle custom declarations. Damn stupid idiot who placed Lupin in a position of some authority.

Lavender laughed as she waved her wand and found the teddy bear. "Last month, one American girl came in and asked for teddies." Hermione was listening as she began to look around. "Teddies there are women's undergarments."

They both let out laughter at the thought, and then cooed at the Harrod's teddy bear.

"Aw, Hermione, look, just like the Queen's Own." She filled out the customs form and had Severus tap his wand on the form for confirmation and finally sent the sack onto "Professor Snape's quarters."

"I need a new hat Lav."

Lavender circled Hermione with the shorn hair. She swished and flicked, and there was a blue day hat, with one lavender colored Gerber daisy to one side.

"Perfect."

With a quick tap, it was paid for and Hermione led Professor Snape out of the shop and with their heels clicking on the cobblestone they went into queue, he once again tucked her hand into his arm and off to dinner they went with a pop.

…

Draco did not, could not believe the audacity of Hermione Granger. His family ring was in his hand, the broken muggle telephone, and he watched his uncle, HIS uncle walk off with the girl he was SUPPOSED to MARRY.

Slowly, he followed their steps and he waited under shadows, and when they left Lavender's shop, he waited some more till he was sure they were gone and went in.

Lavender turned with the chime alerting her of a customer, "Malfoy."

"Lavender, what were they doing together?"

"The sand is stuck you know. She can't flip it."

"So she truly doesn't love me anymore."

She decided to take pity on Draco Malfoy, and said, "You would have to visit the shop down the street to find out more for that. After all, it was Ron and Harry who gave it to her. Gred and Forge made it."

Draco seemed to have all the bones "Lockharted-away." He turned and left the shop.

"Draco, Draco," Lavender muttered, "Her parents, after Voldemort almost killed them, if you loved her, it was truly only a small price to pay."

She turned the placard to closed, and called through the floo, "Seamus?"

Her heart looked back at her, paint in his hair, "Lav?"

"I am coming home." She smiled to herself. "And I am bringing news."

…

They were walking alongside a little quay called Poole, and were heading towards a tiny muggle hotel for dinner. The summer tourists were out, and there were sounds of laughter coming from the two-pence machines.

"So, Ms. Granger," he began, "what is that bauble?"

She looked down at it, and laughed. "A Weasley Wizarding Wheezes creation." She wiggled it in the air in front of him. When he did not reach for it, she stated, "Otherwise known as a 'Conviction Chronometer."

"I see."

"Well, created just for me, but they usually trounce them out around the major holidays as gifts now."

He harrumphed a bit, and waited for an explanation.

"When Ron and Harry found out that I was dating Draco Malfoy, he didn't want to believe that we loved each other. When they heard the announcement of our engagement, they convinced Ron's brothers to help them and they created this charm as a present to me." She fiddled with the tiny hourglass of sand. As she flipped it, the sand did not move.

She continued as they turned up a street. "The sand runs as long as the wearer loves a certain person, and that person loves them back. Only the person the wearer loves can flip the hourglass. Some can be charmed in a way they must be renewed to keep the sand running, like on anniversaries. On all of them, when or if the sand stops, if the wearer can flip it, and the sand moves, it is she who is moving on. When the wearer can flip it and the sand doesn't move, well, the person who last flipped it doesn't love the wearer anymore. The sand stops in either situation if there is no more love in that relationship, the sand can only run if there is a relationship." She gave a sad smile as she flipped it again and the sand didn't move. "I thought it was quite brilliant of the boys, and it is pretty trendy now, with father's giving it to their daughters, or friends to friends."

Severus thought back to the previous school year, and remembered small moments where he though McGonagall allowed time-turners to every female student in hopes of another Granger.

"The time turner shape, I assume, is from your second year?"

"No sir, my third."

They reached the backside of the hotel, and with a quick tap, were inside the upscale "magic" side of the hotel.

As they were led to their table, no looked in askance to either of them, the shadows hiding their faces, yet the maitre'd smiling as he led the duo to the professor's regular table.

After ordering an aperitif, a starter, he asked, 'A toast to start the evening?"

"A bit b-list?"

"We all have to start somewhere."

"Well then, sir, let's toast to loves that are lost to ones we hope to never find."

"That, that there is definitely c-list. Definitely Gryffindor."

Hermione laughed at her dinner partner. "We all don't get one love to last a lifetime."


End file.
